{"id":6874,"date":"2019-11-08T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.utalk.com\/news\/?p=6874"},"modified":"2026-08-19T14:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:21:28","slug":"yes-the-whole-world-really-does-drink-coffee-except-ethiopians-and-armenians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/en\/news\/yes-the-whole-world-really-does-drink-coffee-except-ethiopians-and-armenians","title":{"rendered":"Yes, the Whole World Really Does Drink \u2018Coffee\u2019\u2014Except Ethiopians and Armenians!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Happy Cappuccino Day! In today\u2019s post, uTalk\u2019s guest blogger Brian investigates the many different ways of saying \u2018coffee\u2019\u2014and where the word used around the world actually originates!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forget about tea. Linguistically speaking, coffee is the one beverage whose name sounds the same in almost every language in the world today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just landed in South Africa and happen to be desperately in need of a caffeine buzz? Well then, it might be worth learning to order a coffee in some of the local lingos:  Afrikaans-speakers say koffie<\/em>, Zulus say ikhofi<\/em> and Xhosa-speakers say ikofu<\/em>. Travelling to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland? Then the word to learn is cofaidh<\/em>. What about that trip to sunny Santorini? You might have to say \u201ccoffee\u201d like the locals: \u03ba\u03b1\u03c6\u03ad\u03c2<\/em> (kaf\u00e9s). And on your way to Japan, don\u2019t forget to practise the Japanese way of saying it: k\u014dh\u012b<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But therein lies the mystery. From the Mandarin Chinese k\u0101f\u0113i <\/em>to the Indonesian kopi <\/em>to the New Zealand M\u0101ori kawhe<\/em>, almost all languages today have borrowed the word for \u201ccoffee\u201d from the Arabic qahwa <\/em>(\u0642\u0647\u0648\u0629)! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because the coffee plant, although originating in Ethiopia, was first cultivated on a large scale in Yemen. However, no one knows precisely where the Arabs had gotten the word qahwa <\/em>from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say it came from \u201cKaffa\u201d, the ancient Ethiopian kingdom that had introduced the beverage to Yemen in the first place, centuries ago. Others say it originally referred to a type of wine, yet others think it came from an Arabic word meaning \u201cto dull the hunger\u201d (because that\u2019s what coffee was supposed to do).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that coffee was originally Ethiopian meant that speakers of Ethiopian languages like Amharic get to, of course, have their own unique word for the beverage: buna<\/em>. But most mysterious of all, a couple of centuries ago Armenians had somehow gone against the grain, ignored everyone else\u2019s fascination with the Arabic qahwa<\/em> and proceeded to create their own word \u2013 soorj<\/em> or soorch<\/em>, probably deriving from the act of slurping a delicious cuppa!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you fancy being able to ask for a cup of coffee in more than 150 different languages, then why not try our uTalk app<\/a>? It\u2019s one of the first phrases we teach\u2014because everyone needs something to get them through the day!
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Cappuccino Day! In today\u2019s post, uTalk\u2019s guest blogger Brian investigates the many different ways of saying \u2018coffee\u2019\u2014and where the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[300,263,118,1764,1763,76,763,34,124,1481,109,784,285,1713,1132],"class_list":["post-6874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun-stuff","tag-afrikaans","tag-amharic","tag-arabic","tag-armenian","tag-cappuccino-day","tag-chinese","tag-coffee","tag-greek","tag-japanese","tag-maori","tag-multilingual","tag-scottish-gaelic","tag-vocabulary","tag-xhosa","tag-zulu"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":6874},"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":24,"label":"Fun stuff"}],"post_tag":[{"value":300,"label":"Afrikaans"},{"value":263,"label":"Amharic"},{"value":118,"label":"Arabic"},{"value":1764,"label":"Armenian"},{"value":1763,"label":"cappuccino day"},{"value":76,"label":"Chinese"},{"value":763,"label":"coffee"},{"value":34,"label":"Greek"},{"value":124,"label":"Japanese"},{"value":1481,"label":"Maori"},{"value":109,"label":"multilingual"},{"value":784,"label":"Scottish Gaelic"},{"value":285,"label":"vocabulary"},{"value":1713,"label":"Xhosa"},{"value":1132,"label":"Zulu"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Brian","author_link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/en\/news\/author\/brian"},"comment_info":1,"category_info":[{"term_id":24,"name":"Fun stuff","slug":"fun-stuff","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":87,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":24,"category_count":87,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Fun stuff","category_nicename":"fun-stuff","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":300,"name":"Afrikaans","slug":"afrikaans","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":300,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":263,"name":"Amharic","slug":"amharic","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":263,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":118,"name":"Arabic","slug":"arabic","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":118,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1764,"name":"Armenian","slug":"armenian","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1764,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1763,"name":"cappuccino day","slug":"cappuccino-day","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1763,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":76,"name":"Chinese","slug":"chinese","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":76,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":763,"name":"coffee","slug":"coffee","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":763,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":34,"name":"Greek","slug":"greek","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":124,"name":"Japanese","slug":"japanese","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":124,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":25,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1481,"name":"Maori","slug":"maori","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1481,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":109,"name":"multilingual","slug":"multilingual","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":109,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":784,"name":"Scottish Gaelic","slug":"scottish-gaelic","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":784,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":285,"name":"vocabulary","slug":"vocabulary","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":285,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1713,"name":"Xhosa","slug":"xhosa","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1713,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1132,"name":"Zulu","slug":"zulu","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1132,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8853,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6874\/revisions\/8853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}